Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 26, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 21.

[To OUR INQUIRERS.— (1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2852.—A Law for Rest.

What is your opinion regarding a law with penalties attached which secures to the laborer a rest day? A.

We have no objection to a law of this kind provided it leaves with the individual employer and employee the arrangement in regard to the day of rest. There is a law on the statute-books of California, which unfortunately was placed there without penalty attached, which demands that employers shall give their employees one day of rest in seven, or one day of rest after six of work, but it does not specify the particular day of the week. There are many newspapers who act upon this principle. Every one in their employ gets one day’s rest in seven. The day of rest for all does not come on the same day. Some have one day of the week, and some the other. These things can generally, if not always, be adjusted without law. But we see no objection whatever to a law like this. That is not the object, however, of Sunday laws. The purpose of those so zealously pushing Sunday laws is not to relieve the working man particularly, but it is to honor the day. It is to place an institution of tradition over the individual man. Then, too, the usual Sunday law forbids labor of any kind; not simply as regards men who are employed in large numbers by others, but it steps in and forbids him to labor to whom labor is a real pleasure upon that day. For instance, here is a lawyer or a clerk in a store who has labored hard all through the week at mental labor. The day upon which work is prohibited by law may be the day of all days that he can get time to work in his garden or do manual labor around his home. To him the labor is rest, pleasure. And man has no right to make a law that would hinder one soul from doing as he chooses to do regarding any day so long as he does that which is legitimate and proper between him and his fellows.

2853.—Creation and Satan.

Was this earth made and in the condition of Gen. 1:2 any time before creation week? When was Satan cast out into the earth? J. W. C.

Genesis 1:1 seems to be cut off from the six days which follow by the passage which intervenes. It is not said, “In six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth;” but “in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth.” The first verse of Genesis carries us back to the beginning, whenever that was, as the time when God began His creation, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The book of John begins in the same way. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” This may pertain to the very material out of which the heavens and the earth were made,—the finishing of many things and the calling into existence of our own solar system with others. Then we read that “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” See the Revised Version: “The earth was waste and void.” It was in a chaotic condition. Out of that chaotic condition the creative and formative power of God brought the earth into the condition it was at the close of the six days’ work.

Before that six days’ work angels existed; for we read in Job 38:4-7: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. . . . When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy!” By reference to Isa. 14:12-14 we learn that Satan before he fell was named Lucifer, the Day Star, the Son of the Morning, one of the morning stars. By reference to Rev. 22:16 we learn that the Son of God was one of the morning stars; in fact Jesus declares: “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” When the foundation of the earth was laid, there was perfect harmony in heaven. The morning stars sang together; the very thought implying that there was to come a time when they would not, or rather, the text was written at a time when that harmony did not exist. All the sons of God, all the heads of different worlds, sang together when this world was brought into existence. And yet shortly, seemingly, that harmony was dispelled. Lucifer was lifted up because of his beauty, and corrupted his wisdom by reason of his brightness, we learn in Ezekiel 28, where the fallen angel is spoken of under the figure of the King of Tyre. In his pride he fell.

His coming to this earth evidently was choice on his part in order to induce man to fall. He was cast out of heaven where God dwells; came to this earth, the newest creation in God’s universe, determined to overthrow those whom God had placed here. This he accomplished. Man yielded to his persuasion, and Satan became prince of the world, and so when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them as stated in Job 1 and 2; and this position he seemed to occupy until Christ Jesus the Lord came. Then it was that He met the tempter in the very fulness of his power; then, too, it was that He conquered, and then, too, was fulfilled Rev. 12:7-9. That war in heaven continued from the time that man fell until the time that Christ died upon the cross; for Michael, which means, “Who is like God,” is none other than Christ; and that casting down was the utter casting down, so that his appearance among the rulers or heads of worlds could no longer be recognized in heaven. See the article in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES MONTHLY for March, “Satan, His Origin, Work, and Doom.”

2854.—The Ten Kingdoms of Rome.

What are the ten divisions of the Roman kingdom as set forth in Daniel 7? And when did these kingdoms begin? A. O.

Three or four times a list of the ten kingdoms has been published in the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and we publish them again. We are sure that our readers will find them reliable. The references to Gibbon are from Milman’s edition, five volumes, published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, 1880. The figures preceding the colon are the chapter, following the colon, the paragraph.

1. The Alemanni, A.D. 351, Suabia, Alsace, and Lorraine. (See Gibbon, chapter 10, paragraph 26; 12:20; 19:20; 36:5; 49:22.)

2. The Franks, A.D. 351, northwest Gaul. (Gibbon 19:20; 36:5.)

3. The Burgundians, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) Located in Burgundy, A.D. 420. (Gibbon 31:39.)

4. The Vandals, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) Located in Spain A.D. 409. (Gibbon 31:36.) Settled in Africa A.D. 429. (Gibbon 33:35.)

5. The Suevi, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) In Spain A.D. 409. (Gibbon 31:36.)

6. The Visigoths, A.D. 408. (Gibbon 31:2, 14.) In southwest Gaul A.D. 419. (Gibbon 31:39.) In Spain, A.D. 467. (Gibbon 36:22; 38:2, 29.)

7. The Saxons, entered Britain A.D. 449. (Gibbon 31:41, 42; 38:33; Green’s England 1:17; Knight’s England 5:6.)

8. The Ostrogoths, in Pannonia A.D. 453. (Gibbon 35:16.) In Italy A.D. 489, final conquest A.D. 493. (Gibbon 39:7, 8.)

9. The Lombards, A.D. 453, in Pannonia and Noricum, banks of Danube. (Weber’s Universal History, section 180; Gibbon 42:2; Encyclopedia Britannica, article “Lombards.”) In Lombardy A.D. 567-8. (Gibbon 45:5-7; Machiavelli’s History of Florence, chapters 1, 2.)

10. The Heruli, in Italy, A.D. 475-6. (Gibbon 36:28-33.)

The three which were plucked up were the Heruli, in Italy in 493; the Vandals in Africa, 533, and the Ostrogoths in Italy, 538. There were therefore ten kingdoms existing in Western Rome between A.D. 476 and A.D. 493.

2855.—Are the Conditions Incongruous?

How can we harmonize Isa. 66:24 with the teaching that at the time when conditions shall obtain as indicated in the preceding verse, there shall be a new heaven and a new earth? That which seems to me incongruous is the condition upon which the dwellers in the new earth shall look. M.

The promises of the chapter, and also of the preceding chapter, carry the children of God forward to the time when they shall enter upon the new heavens and the new earth. They do not treat upon the glories or blessings of the kingdom, rather more upon the simple entrance itself. These promises are more or less mingled with the temporal promises to Israel in this life. Some of these very conditions set forth by the prophets would have been fulfilled here if the people had been faithful to God. But as they were not faithful, God’s promises will be fulfilled to His faithful children in the earth made new. The 22nd verse is the promise that as the new heavens and the new earth shall remain before the Lord so shall those who are redeemed remain. There from month to month and from week to week, they shall meet before the Lord,—the weekly meeting on the Sabbath, the monthly meeting in conjunction with the bearing of the twelvefold fruits of the Tree of Life. There will be no more of wickedness, for at the very beginning or previous to the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth all wickedness has been banished. The very men that came up against the city of God have been destroyed, and God’s children have seen that destruction, and they see in that punishment absolute and utter extinction of their enemies.

The two figures used, “the undying worm and the unquenchable fire,” are figures indicating destruction of that upon which these agencies prey. Outside of Jerusalem was the Valley of Hinnom. Into that valley were cast every species of filth, bodies of malefactors, and dead carcasses of beasts. Upon these bodies the worms preyed, and no one stayed the worm. It did not die till it did its work. To consume what the worms did not eat, constant fires were kept burning in order to avert pestilence, and nobody quenched the fire. Just so it will be with those who have transgressed against God and have forever identified themselves with sin. With the sin they shall perish. The destructive agencies will completely destroy it. Then God’s universe shall be clean forever. The unquenchable fire goes out when the material upon which it lived is consumed. The same figure is used in Matt. 3:12: “The chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire,” that is, fire that would consume that which was cast into it. Sometimes you will notice in God’s word that it anticipates; sometimes it refers back to previous conditions.

2856.—How Many Angels Fell?

I have understood that one third of the angels fell and were cast out of heaven. Where do we find proof in the Bible? B. B. 1601.

Revelation 12 is as clear upon this point perhaps as anything. “And there was seen another sign in heaven. Behold, the great red dragon.” Verse 3. “And his tail dragged the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth.” Verse 4. Angels of God are called “stars.” So Lucifer said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” See Isa. 14:12-14. Some of those stars of God yielded to his persuasions and in that revolt went with him. The number seems to be indicated by the passage in Revelation to which we have referred.